Kevin Dillon's Johnny Drama -- Hero of the New Loser Irritability

The always irritable, or rather "edgy," New York Observer columnist Ron Rosenbaum dissects Johnny Drama, the easily-irritated and dimwitted character played by Kevin Dillon in the HBO original hit series Entourage.

In the show, Johnny Drama is a past-his-peak television actor and the older half-brother of Vincent Chase, a hot young movie star of the moment. Johnny is part part of Vincent's entourage (hence the show's title), riding the coat tails of his brother's fame, hoping some of the success will rub off on his own down-in-the-dumps acting career. Kevin Dillon's character along with the shark-like super-agent Ari Gold (played by Jeremy Piven), really gives Entourage the comedic juice that makes the series fun and memorable.

Dillon's character, though a pathetic, impulsive, easily-provoked and dopey loser, is well-meaning. Most of the time, he manages to land on his feet and find a modicum of success in spite of himself. According to Rosenbaum, this makes Drama a new kind of everyman hero archetype of irritibality for a younger generation, a hero missing from the pop-culture landscape for a long time.

Posted by Supercore at August 22, 2006 02:04 AM